Tool joint for drill stems



May 7, 1940. wgvfsowLEs TSOL JOINT FOR DRILL .STEMS Filed April 7-, 19395 Sheets-Sheet l May 7, 1940- w. v. BOWLES TGOL JOINT FOR DRILL STEMSFiled April '7, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 e W w mm M 3 y 0 B m .V.. um y m EMay 7, 1940.

- w. v. BOWLES 2,199,738

TOOL JOINT FOR DRILL STEMS Filed April 7, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 aren sin, 1, 1940 v 2,199,738

UNITED STATES-PATENT OFFICE TOOL JOINT FDR DRILL STEMS William V.Bowles, Houston, Tet i, assignor o! trwenty-five per cent to Tracy S;Park, Houston, ex.

Application April 7, 1939, Serial No. 266,487

4 Claims. (01. 255-28) My invention relates to tool joints such as arethe pipe. This is somewhat similar to the action employed upon drillstems in the operations of of a compression die employed in reducing thewell drilling. It also includes the construction diameter of the tubularsections. The walls of of drill stem supporting means whereby the drillthe pipe are compressed so that its diameter is 5 stem may be held inthe rotary table during the sometimes materially decreased at the point5 operations of inserting or removing the pipe where the slip engagesthe pipe. from the well. V The main purpose of my invention is to pro-In the drilling of wells by the rotary method vide a tool joint, eitherintegral with the pipe it is customary to connect one section of thedrill or separate and replaceable, the lower or box stem to the nextadjacent section by tool joints half being provided with downwardly p 0constructed of a good quality of steel which will ing shoulders, beneathwhich elevators or bushbe capable of screwing up and unscrewing from styp Slips y be engaged, to hoist, lower, each other with a minimumamount of wear. o s pp t e drill s in drilling Operations. Such tooljoints are ordinarily of a better qual- This method does away, withtongs, elevators or ity of steel than the drill stem sections but mustslips eing brought in Contact with s ly 15 not be so hard as to preventgrip thereon by damaged wall of the pipe, resulting in longer life theordinary type of pipe tongs. and usefulness of the pipe and reducing thehaz- In drilling operations the sections of pipe are d of the p breakingor tw stin -01f during coupled together in units of three or foursecdrilling Operationstions of drill pipe so that they can be handled Itis a furt object f th inv ntionto pr 20 more expeditiously. These unitsare ordinarily d a 15001 joint? which is p ygonal On ts Outer termedthreeables or ffourables," depending on p p e where the Wrench may beengaged the number of sections handled together as a the ewith; thus pem tt the joint to be of unit. Thes secti n ha a al r m joint steel hardenough to resist the usual multilation member at the lower end and afemale or box due t t action of t wrench In t usua 25 joint member atthe upper d, wh th drm cylindrical form of joint the steel 'must not beso stem sections are being asse bled for insertion hardthat the teeth orinserts on the wrench will of the drill stem and drill int the w ll, thnot .cut into the metal of the joint sufficiently sections that havebeen introduced are supported o hold t o rom turning relative to the byslips while. each new section is connected wrench. By us n a p y aljoint a wrench 30 thereto. The rotary table is equipped with a w fi lmay be used and the clamping tapered bowl or bushing into which slips ari action of the old type of tongs is avoided. serted to clamp againstthe pipe a d h ld it, It is also an object of the invention to provideagainst downward movement. These slips are a tool joint which iscomparatively 10118 and tapered on their outer faces and toothed ontheir ri d. so as to assist in maintainine a t as inner faces adjacentthe pipe and are wedged o in drillingdownwardly into the bowl by theweight of the It i also an Object to do away with'the old pipe so that afirm grip is obtained upon the drill type of S pwhich are frictichally aped to stem then in the well to prevent its dropping. the p p and to p vd a ccmpaiatively light 0 In modern drilling it is becoming common tosupportingslip or tongs which provide a shoulder 40 drill wells inexcess of ten thousand feet in depth. upon which the tool joint mayengage without In such wells the weight of the drill stem which beingcompressed.

must be suspended upon the slips becomes enor- I also desire to so formthe outer contour of mous and the slips must obtain a firm grip upon thetool joint that the elevators may be easily the pipe to prevent itsdropping. In handling released therefrom in use.

the pipe the tool joint at the'upper end of the In the drawingsherewith, I have shown sevfourable must extend above the rotary tableeral embodiments of the invention. Fig. 1 is a to be engaged by theelevators employed in hanbroken central longitudinal sectionillustrating dling the pipe. This necessitates the pipe being one formof construction which may be emsupported below the tool joint upon slipsof the ployed in carrying out the invention. 50 character described. Itis found that the teeth Fig. 2 is a top plan view in section on the lineupon the slips which are clamped frictionally I "22 of Fig. 1. againstthe pipetend to mutilate the surface of Fig. 3 is a transverse sectionon line 3-3 of the pipe and the excessive weight supported by Fig. 1. rthe slips tends to exert a crushing action upon Fig. 4 is a sectionsimilar to Fig.3 but illustrat- 55 ing the matching up of one section ofjoint relative to the adjacent section.

Fig. 5 is a broken detail illustrating how the device shown in Fig. 1may be made by an upset integral with the pipe itself.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section similar to Fig. 1 and illustrating adifferent embodiment of tool joint.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view partly in elevation illustrating a differentembodiment of the supporting means for the drill stem.

Fig. 8 is a transverse section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation showing the two parts of the tool jointconstructed similar to that shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 10 is an assembly viewshowing the manner in which the elevators mayengage the tool joint.

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of a tool joint constructed slightlydifferent from that shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 12 is a longitudinal section through a tool joint such as isdisclosed in Fig. 11 with the pipe sections connected therein.

Fig. 13 is a longitudinal section through a tool joint embodying thisinvention and shown as formed integral with the drill pipe.

To avoid the necessity of supporting the pipe in the rotary table bymeans of the conventional slip jaws it is a feature of the invention toprovide upon the tool joint or upon the drill stem, closely adjacent thetool joint, a shoulder which may rest upon a support without thenecessity of any compression of the pipe. In Fig. l- I have shown asection of drill stem i which is upset toward the end thereof, as shownat 2, and threaded at 3 to engage with the box member 4 of a tool joint.This tool joint is of old construction having a coarsely threaded box orsocket to engage with the tapered threaded end 5 of the pin member 6 ofthe joint. joint must be supported in position above the rotary so thatthe elevator may be engaged below the shoulder 1 upon the lower end ofthe tool joint.

To support the tool joint in this position I contemplate placing uponthe upset end of the drill pipe section a sleeve 8, which fits closelyabout the drill stem and is upset at 9 toward the lower end thereof toengage below the upset portion 2 upon the pipe. This sleeve is heldrigidly in this position upon the pipe by a bond of welding material Itaround the upper end of the sleeve, said bond serving to secure thesleeve rigidly to the pipein what is substantially an integralconnection. The lower end of the sleeve 8 thus mounted upon the pipeforms a shoulder at I I which may engage with a supporting shoulder l2upon a tapered bushing IS on the split bushing l3 in the rotary table.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, the bushing i4 is rectangular in shape andfits within a squared opening IS in the rotary table I6. It is formedwith a circular opening I! therein which, as will be seen from Fig. 1,is cylindrical for a short distance and then is tapered downwardly at l8to receive the bushing l3.

The said bushing I3 is made up of two sections which engage togetheralong their meeting sides at [9 and have an outer tapered surface 20,

, which fits within the tapered seat l8. On their inner faces the twohalves of the supporting bushing are formed with a polygonal recess 2|to fit about the outer periphery of the sleeve 8,

This tool which, as will be seen from Fig. 2, is also polygonal on itsouter surface, as will be later noted.

onal shape and thereby providing opposite fiat sides 24 so that thejoint may be conveniently engaged by a pipe wrench having fixed jawswhich may be inserted into position engaging against the opposite sidesof the joint.

It is not common to have one portion of the tool joint screwed into theadjacent tool joint so that the flat sides of both the members of thejoint will be axially aligned. In Fig. 4 it will be noted that as amatter of fact they may be entirely out of alignment with each other.The outer surface of the sleeve 8 is also octagonal, as has beenpreviously noted, and it will be obvious that the tool joint may be heldagainst rotation relative to the wrench or holding means when unscrewingor screwing up of the tool joint is desired. 1

While the tool joint is supported in spaced position above the rotary bythe means described relative to Fig. 1, it is obvious that the pipeitself may be formed with the upper end upset in such manner as toprovide a supporting shoulder I la adapted to engage with the supportingbushing. In Fig. 5 such a shoulder is formed upon the pipe section la.Above the upset portion 2a of this pipe the pipe is threaded forengagement with the tool joint member 4 as in the previous embodiment.It will thus be possible to support this tool joint in spaced relationabove the rotary in the same manner as is shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 6 I have shownthe supporting shoulder as formed upon the tooljoint itself. In this construction the pipe section lb is formed withthe metal upset thereon toward the upper end, which is threaded at 25for engagement with a tool joint member 26. This tool joint member isformed with an elongated box member, the

lower end of which is threaded at 25 to the drill stem section aspreviously noted, and the upper end is formed into a tool joint box 21adapted to engage with the pin member 6. At a point spaced from the box21 the tool joint is formed with a shoulder 28 beneath which theelevators may be engaged. The lower end of the tool joint is again upsetat 29 to form a heavy supporting wall having at the lower end thereof ashoulder 30 to seat upon the supporting ledge or shoulder l2 in thesupporting bushing. The box member of the joint may be of any desiredlength but it is contemplated that there shall be space between theshoulder 28 and the upper end of the upset portion 29 to freelyaccommodate the elevators without interference from the rotary table. Itwill be understood that this joint is made polygonal, and preferably ofoctagonal shape as in the previous embodiment, so that the ordinarystationary jaw wrench may be employed thereon.

The supporting bushing which has. been shown at l3 in Figs. 1 and 6 neednot be constructed in the manner there shown. In Fig. 7, I have shown asomewhat different embodiment in which the bushing 3| is formed with asquared upper end at 32 to fit within the recess I5.in the -rotarytable. This recess is of shallow depth and has a lower shoulder 33thereon below which the opening through the bushing is tapered at 34 toreceive the tapered lower end 35 of the supporting bushing. This bushinghas a recess 36 on its innersurface to receive a split ring 31 whichsupports the drill pipe. The lower end of the recess 36 has a shoulder38 upon which the split ring 31 may rest. Below this shoulder theopening through the bushing is tapered somewhat and then is flareddownwardly.

The ring 31 is split diametrically so that it may be assembledinposition around the upper end 39 of the drill stem section. The upperend of the ring forms a shoulder 40 against which the tool joint4l mayengage.

The ring 31 is connected. with a handle device, which is shown best inFig. 8.. It comprises two handle members hinged together at 43 andcurved to conform to the curvature of the ring and connected therewithso that said ring may be engaged about the pipe quickly when the drillstem is to be supported in the rotary. It will be noted that theconstruction of the ring and the handles 44 connected therewith iscomparatively light so that one of the operators'can handle the samewithout assistance. This is of material advantage in performing theoperations of removing from or inserting the pipe into the well asrapidly as possible.

In this construction the tool joint 4|. is similar to the jointdisclosedin Fig. 6. However, the lower end 42 which is made polygonal issomewhat shorter in length for the reason that it stands up above therotary table as here indicated. The upper end of the box member of thejoint shown at 45 is spaced above the rotary in a position where it canbe readily engaged by the elevator or by the pipe wrench. This will beunderstood more clearly from the view shown in Fig. 10.

As will be noted each ofthese tool joints is curved outwardly fromcylindrical portion 4| to the lower polygonal portion 42 as shown at Mato allow for ready release of the elevators as they are unlatched anddropped downwardly.

It is obvious that my inventive idea may be i changed in various wayswithout departing from' the spirit of the invention. In Figs. 11 and 12I have shown the box member 46 of the tool joint as being formed with alower octagonal portion 41 to engage with the upper end of the pipesection and a second octagonal portion 48 spaced from the member 4| toprovide between them an area 49 about which the supporting member may beengaged or, if necessary, elevators may ,be employed. The upper end ofthe joint member is formed into the box member of the tool joint as inthe previous embodiment.

In Fig. 13 the structure of the joint is still further modified so thatthe box member 50 of the joint becomes integral with the pipe section5|, upon which it is formed. Also, the pin member 52 is formed upon theupset end 53 at the lower end of the next upper pipe section.

It will be clear from the description of the drawings that Ihaveprovided a tool joint which may be-supported in the rotary table duringthe time a tool joint is being screwed up, or unscrewed, in such mannerthat there is no crushing strain placed upon the pipe. The shoulder uponthe tool jointrests upon a shoulder in the the structure is such thatthe drill stem may be handled without danger of dropping and that reamthe hole to some extent.

the ordinary slip new employed will be unnecessary. It is possible toadapt the ordinary type of pipe and tool joint to this use by formingthe shoulder upon a sleeve secured to the pipe.

However, it is a preferred form of my invention to provide a tool jointhaving thereon an upper shoulder spaced from the lower section of pipewhich may be engaged by the elevators and thus sections when the drillpipe is being hoisted or supported.

In this construction I not only avoid the mutilation of the pipe by theslips now generally employed but I am enabled to form the joint ofexceedingly hard material which is adapted to resist strain andabrasion. Due to the fact that the tool joint is polygonal on its outersurface to be engaged by a wrench with fixed jaws the joint may be hardwithout interfering in any manner with the firm engagement thereof bythe wrench. The use of a wrench with fixed jaws also enables theoperator to connect and disconnect the sections more rapidly. The jointsare made up tighter andyet are more easily broken. No manipulation ofthe wrench to latch or unlatch the wrench jaw'need be performed inengaging the wrench upon the, joint. As the wrench, elevators andsupporting bushings all engage with the joint and not with the pipe, thewall of the pipe will not be injured by operation of handling.

By forming the tool joint in elongated form as has been described thedrill stern itself is made more generally rigid. The tendency of thepipe to bend or to be distorted in drilling is largely minimized so thatdrilling a straight hole is facilitated. The tool jointbecomes amaterial part in the length of the drill stem and will tend to engagethe wall of the well and hold the drill.

stem in vertical alignment. Also the octagonal areas, having thedownwardly presented shoulders of extremely hard steel, will present amaximum of resistance to wear and act, in drilling, to The well bore israrely straight. There are .bends and crooks at different depths in thebore which cause a flexing of the drill stem in rotation. The polygonaljoints bear against the walls at the bends and as the necessity of slipswhich compress the tubular they work downwardly tend to wear the holemore nearly straight. Thus the tool joints not only reduce the bends inthe bore but, if bends occur, the joints tend to ream and wear the bendsmore nearly straight.

The pipe is thus protected from material wear and it is possible for itto last the life of several sets of tool joints, the latter beingreplaced in the field at the well when the old ones become worn thinfrom long use.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A drill stem section, a tool joint box member at the upper endthereof, polygonal enlargements at the upper and lower ends of said boxto be engaged by a wrench, an intermediate polygonal enlarged memberspaced upwardly adjacent said lower end similar in length to that ofsaid lower end enlargement for engagement by a wrench, shoulders on thelower sides of said enlargements, and a cylindrical body between saidenlargements to receive elevators and other member being upset at itsends with a cylindrical area of smaller diameter between the upsetportions, shoulders presented downwardly on said upset portions, and arotary table having an opening therein through which said drill stemsection extends, a supporting bushing in said table having a polygonalrecess to receive said box member and prevent relative rotation, and ashoulder at the lower side of said recess to be engaged by the lower endof said box member and support said drill stem.

3. A- tool joint including a tapered threaded pin member, a box memberhaving an elongated body with upset enlargements at its upper and lowerends, a third enlargement spaced from the lower end, said enlargementsbeing polygonal and slightly elongated to be engaged by a wrench, eachenlargement having a lower shoulder extending at right angles to theaxis of the joint, and both upper and lower upset portions having ataper-threaded socket.

4. A drill stem section, tool joint members at the upper and lower endsthereof, a polygonal enlargement on said pipe, a shoulder of largerdiameter than that of the pipe presented downwardly on said enlargementat a point on said pipe spaced below said upper tool Joint member toprovide space between said tool Joint member 10 support to engage saidshoulder and prevent ro- 15 tation of said drill stem.

WILLIAM V. BOWLES.

